Though it was a banner year for Cameron Stallones all around some of his best moves came within the context of the full arsenal of Magic Lantern. The group's first record in quite a few years and well worth the wait, Platoon fulfills every heavy psych wish we made this year.

By transcending the very hypnogogic force he begat, Pink finally begins to realize his vision; assembling an expert team into the studio for fleshed out, lush versions of the pop memories he's long been channeling. The resulting album Before Today hits on the same tip-of-the-tongue resonance that he and many of his contemporaries have long plundered but with such crystal clarity that the lines between past and future begin to fold in on themselves. Pink and co. have successfully rewritten your 80's memories once and for all.

Its taken years of quality analog waveforms for the general populace to embrace the Midwest phenomenon that is Emeralds, but on their umpteenth album the band begins to fold others into their black hole of complex synth patterns. Thankfully as a result of this dozens of Emeralds side projects and long lost tapes have flooded their way to vinyl as well in a welcome glut of reissues. This threatens to be just the tip of the Emeralds iceberg and around here we're gladly heralding the arrival.

With their last album people finally took notice of Woods' sunny psych and it only stood to reason that they should have welcomed this, by far their most accessible and enticing album yet, with open arms. Maybe its just me but I felt that despite containing some of Woods greatest songs yet, this one got shoved aside for a few more fashionable releases in the wake of year end lists. Nevertheless, Echo Lake remains high on my list of the greatest releases of 2010. A perfect companion to summer's transition to fall and bound to be an album that stands up to the test of time.

Another long time RSTB favorite that seems to have finally gotten their due. Tim Cohen has been honing his songcraft over the course of many bands and it seems to have found its peak with The Fresh & Onlys. Merging jangle pop's breezy textures with the dark swagger of garage, Play It Strange has ended up as the most cohesive example of their sound yet.

Though this is the shortest release to make the year end list, Mississippi's Flight makes more noise in the space of six songs that most releases managed to squeeze out of double that this year. A long time staple of the RSTB singles favorites, this EP proved that Flight had more than just A and B sides waiting in tow. Plus a sting on the CMJ circuit this year proved that they could bring the fuzz live as well. Definitely one to look out for when a full length eventually drops.

Another release that blew my feet out from underneath me this year. The singles leading up to Immer Etwas were all fine and though they often cracked the Raven heavily played list, they couldn't have prepared me for the vile desperation on display throughout their debut album.

Though overall acclaim for this album was positive, I saw waaaay too many instances of people calling this a disapointment after Love Visions. Honestly there's no comparison. First Blood is Nobunny's finest statement. Underneath the defenses of the bunny mask, Justin Champlin rolls suburban dissapointment, sexual tension and personal tragedy into one of the year's catchiest records. Playing off of his garage pallette and mashing it with a VU sense of pop sincerity for one of the most underrated albums of the year.

A perfect distillation of Spacemen 3 and pre-electronic Primal Scream. Crocodiles hit the desert for these sessions with Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford and they walked out of that bunker with a lush, hazy piece of pop under their arms. The only drawback of Sleep Forever is that it ends too soon, but that's just all the more reason to flip it and start the trip all over again.

Absolutely the most played record all year around here. Ty turns in his best album yet, perfectly encapsulating the garage pop juggarnaut that's been put in place in the past couple of years. "My Sunshine" alone warrants the album's inclusion of any best of 2010 list going around. It's a perfectly crafted nugget of angst and melody and guitar fire wrapped in amplifier sweat. Throw in tracks like "Girlfriend", "Alone" and "Caesar" and this begins to swell into the unstoppable behemoth it is. In the wake of Jay Reatard's passing there haven't popped up a whole lot of hopefulls to take the reins he left hanging. Only Ty can save us now.